not exactly Lewis and Clark

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Monument Valley

Ah the iconic Monument Valley. Pretty cool that it’s on Indian land so they actually get some money. According to the museum there, it’s a dire situation on reservations. The museum definitely didn’t paint a pretty picture of modern Indians.

It was $20 per car. Although, the damages to your car may end up costing you more. The roads were atrocious. Like holy shit, can my car even make it up this little hill? It was basically off-roading. Several people parked their cars and walked to the overlooks.

It’s a 17 mile scenic drive and took all of two hours because we could only go like 5 mph because of how bad the roads were. Did I mention how bad the roads were? Because they were pretty bad.

A mini museum. We opted not to check it out because it was over 100 degrees and we were two weeks in on trip and getting a little loopy and tired.

For $40-80 a person (!), you could ride in one of the tour trucks. Which, is an insane amount of money. They are run by different companies who set their own prices. BUT, you can’t take an RV or bus onto the overlook loop and you also have to have four wheel drive or at least not care about your car all that much. So I can see how people feel forced to pay a shit ton of money to ride the trucks. We passed a lot of them filled with a lot of people. They really need money so if you have it and want to spend it on a truck tour, go for it.

Monument Valley is iconic, but the photos might be more iconic than the actual park. There are some famous shots that were obviously taken with a zoom lens. Monument Valley is definitely more expansive and spread out than I expected.

I’m glad I saw it but I don’t need to see it again. I feel like it’s like the Grand Canyon. You have to see it, but once you do, you’re done. So, go see it. Then move on.